It was supposed to be a normal run-for-our-lives-from-the-Furies kind of day.
Well, normal by demigod standards.
Percy had already been dealing with enough. First, he got kicked out of school. Then, he found out his best friend was actually a goat. Then, his mom got kidnapped by a freaking Minotaur, and now he was on a top-secret quest to retrieve Zeus's stolen lightning bolt, all while being chased by monsters that wanted to murder him in fun and creative ways.
And that was before his eternally eight-year-old ghost twin and a three-headed hellhound decided to tag along.
Little Percy was currently bouncing in his seat, swinging his legs like he didn't have a care in the world. Cerberus was curled up beside him, three heads drooping sleepily. The Mist had convinced the driver that the enormous monster was just a very large emotional support dog, which really said something about the state of public transportation.
Annabeth looked like she was deeply reconsidering her life choices. Grover had his head in his hands, already praying to every nature spirit he could think of.
And Mortal Percy? He was just tired.
So, of course, that was when the Furies attacked.
Alecto—the same demon math teacher who had tried to kill him back at Yancy—rose from the back of the bus with her two sisters, wings unfurling as they screeched and hissed.
Mortal Percy braced himself to fight—
But Little Percy lit up with excitement.
"Oh hey, it's you guys!"
The Furies froze.
Alecto hesitated mid-screech. "…Oh no."
The second Fury groaned. "Not again."
The third one sighed. "I was really hoping it wouldn't be him this time."
Little Percy grinned, waving. "Hi, Miss Alecto! Hi, Miss Tisiphone! Hi, Miss Megaera! You guys are on a quest too?"
Mortal Percy blinked. "Wait. You know them?"
Annabeth looked between them, utterly lost. "What is happening right now?"
Alecto pinched the bridge of her nose. "Of course we know him. We've been sent to retrieve him dozens of times."
Tisiphone crossed her arms. "Do you have any idea how many times Lord Hades has sent us after this child?"
Megaera groaned. "I still have nightmares about the last time he escaped."
Little Percy pouted. "Aww, but we always have so much fun!" The Furies exchanged exhausted, deeply done looks.
Mortal Percy ran a hand down his face. "Okay. I don't have the energy to unpack that right now. Can we just—"
And then the sky exploded.
CRACK—BOOM!
A deafening blast of thunder shook the entire bus.
Lightning slammed into the roof. Metal screamed as electricity ripped through it—
And then the entire thing detonated.
There was fire. There was screaming. There was an overwhelming sense of déjà vu as Percy realized this was, in fact, the second time in his life he had been violently thrown from a moving vehicle. The bus? What was left of it?
Currently on fire in the ditch, smoking like Zeus had personally tried to delete it from reality.
Mortal Percy groaned, lifting his head. "What the Hades just happened?"
Little Percy, completely unfazed, grinned. "Ooooh, that was a big lightning bolt!"
Annabeth sat up, coughing. "That was not normal lightning." She turned to Grover, who looked way too pale. "Did Zeus just—"
"—Try to smite us off the face of the planet?" Grover finished weakly. "Yeah. Yeah, I think he did."
Mortal Percy groaned. "Okay, but why?"
Annabeth looked at him like he was an idiot. "Gee, I wonder! Maybe because you're the son of Poseidon and Zeus thinks you stole his master bolt?"
Okay, yeah, but that doesn't explain—" Mortal Percy froze. His eyes went wide. Then he turned very, very slowly to Little Percy, who was currently trying to make shadow puppets in the firelight.
Annabeth followed his gaze.
Her expression went from frustrated to horrified in an instant.
"Oh gods," she whispered. "He wasn't just trying to kill you—"
Mortal Percy nodded. "He was trying to send him back to the Underworld early."
Little Percy blinked up at them. "Huh? What?"
Grover made a strangled noise. "What kind of lunatic tries to kill something that's already dead?!"
Mortal Percy groaned. "Oh, this quest just got so much worse."
And above them, the sky rumbled ominously, like Zeus was still very unhappy.
Annabeth swore. "We need to move before he tries again."
Mortal Percy didn't need to be told twice.
Because if today had proven anything…
It was that this quest?
This was going to be an absolute disaster.